Taiwan Business Quick Take

Staff writer, with agencies

INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

IEK forecasts 9% growth

The production value of the nation’s IC packaging and testing sector is expected to grow more than 9 percent this year from a year earlier on the back of the rising popularity of smartphones and tablets, a research report said yesterday. The output of the nation’s IC packaging and testing businesses is expected to total NT$429.5 billion (US$14.32 billion) this year, up 9.1 percent from last year, the Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK) said in the report. IEK analyst Chen Ling-chun (陳玲君) said the institute has high hopes that the output could even grow 10 percent in the best-case scenario, because prices of gold and copper, two major raw materials for the IC packaging and testing sector, have fallen sharply recently, while the New Taiwan dollar’s depreciation could also help local companies to secure orders.

ELECTRONICS

HTC shuffles management

Smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said Jack Yang (楊偉國) had become president of the company’s South Asia operations, while Sirpa Ikola would serve as a new senior director of marketing for South Asia. Prior to joining HTC Corp, Yang served as Apple Inc’s former head of iPhone and iPad sales in Southeast Asia, while Ikola was the former head of Nokia Oyj’s smart devices business in Southeast Asia.